"These are our forever homes. The one down on Talum, that's in one day. Until Lim takes it away. We are passing through the earth" - says the veteran Šućo Selimović, one of the oldest and most respected Roma from Beran, as he lights a "Marlboro" cigarette, observing his newly built tomb at the Roma cemetery, located far from the city, on the lonely and desolate Gradinsko polje.
He likes to spend time here, in the shade of the pines. He is seventy-one years old, and he says that he plans to live only two or three more years, and then to move there, to his wife Arifa and daughter Jadranka.
For his eternal house he spared no money. He tells how the monument, with his dominant image on the marble, in the middle, between the portraits of his wife and daughter, cost close to three thousand euros.
"Is there a more beautiful place and cemetery than ours? We invested a lot to arrange it. We spared no expense"
"Is there a more beautiful place and cemetery than ours? We invested a lot to arrange it. We didn't spare any money. We just need someone to finally asphalt part of the road here. If electricity and water could be brought, let's light it up and build a fountain ... – says Šućo.
The Roma cemetery in Berane has not always been here. It used to be located in Rudeš, but when a pulp and paper factory was built, someone decided to move the cemetery and move the Roma as far away from the city as possible. It was then located five kilometers from their settlement Donji Talum, next to the old road to Andrijevica.
"Look around. It was like this, a thicket. But we arranged it all and now we have the most beautiful cemetery," Šućo says.
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